Turkey is one of the largest middle-income partners of the World Bank Group (WBG), and the 18th largest economy in the world. In less than a decade, per capita income in the country has nearly tripled and now exceeds $10,000.
Read More »

This report sets out a new poverty line
methodology for Turkey, as the basic measure of poverty in
the country. However, several poverty lines are calculated
for th... Show More +e purpose of international comparability, and
comparability to the Bank's poverty measures, using the
1987 and 1994 data. The basic data used in Volume One are
from the official 2002 Household Budget Survey (HBS). The
analysis refers generally to the new poverty line
methodology that results in 27 percent poor. This line is
called "complete" poverty line, and is referred to
as "Total poverty" in statistical tables. An
in-depth analysis of the 2002 Household Budget Survey (HBS)
compared to that from 1994, shows that living standards in
Turkey remained almost unchanged. Poverty based on the
previous methodology declined gradually from 1987 to 2002,
from 38.5 percent to 34.5 percent. Poverty based on the
updated methodology declined from 28.3 percent to 27 percent
from 1994 to 2002. On the other hand, marginal inequality
increased. Extreme poverty, already low, further declined
from 1994 to 2002. Food poverty declined from 2.9 to 1.4
percent, while $1 per person per day poverty, depending on
purchasing power parity (PPP) used, was 2-3 percent, or even
negligible (0.2 percent). The poverty-growth decomposition
demonstrated that while economic growth was a main driving
force in poverty reduction, much of the gains from growth
were offset by inequality, which slightly worsened from 1994
to 2002. The timing of the two major surveys in Turkey -
1994 and 2002 - dictates the frame for the comparisons.
Unfortunately, due to the macroeconomic instability, living
standards between these two years have not improved. The
conclusion that stems from this analysis is therefore that
growth between 1994 and 2002 was not sufficiently strong to
produce any sizable reduction in poverty, and the impact of
the little growth there was, was dampened by an increase in inequality. Show Less -

This report sets out a new poverty line
methodology for Turkey, as the basic measure of poverty in
the country. However, several poverty lines are calculated
for th... Show More +e purpose of international comparability, and
comparability to the Bank's poverty measures, using the
1987 and 1994 data. The basic data used in Volume One are
from the official 2002 Household Budget Survey (HBS). The
analysis refers generally to the new poverty line
methodology that results in 27 percent poor. This line is
called "complete" poverty line, and is referred to
as "Total poverty" in statistical tables. An
in-depth analysis of the 2002 Household Budget Survey (HBS)
compared to that from 1994, shows that living standards in
Turkey remained almost unchanged. Poverty based on the
previous methodology declined gradually from 1987 to 2002,
from 38.5 percent to 34.5 percent. Poverty based on the
updated methodology declined from 28.3 percent to 27 percent
from 1994 to 2002. On the other hand, marginal inequality
increased. Extreme poverty, already low, further declined
from 1994 to 2002. Food poverty declined from 2.9 to 1.4
percent, while $1 per person per day poverty, depending on
purchasing power parity (PPP) used, was 2-3 percent, or even
negligible (0.2 percent). The poverty-growth decomposition
demonstrated that while economic growth was a main driving
force in poverty reduction, much of the gains from growth
were offset by inequality, which slightly worsened from 1994
to 2002. The timing of the two major surveys in Turkey -
1994 and 2002 - dictates the frame for the comparisons.
Unfortunately, due to the macroeconomic instability, living
standards between these two years have not improved. The
conclusion that stems from this analysis is therefore that
growth between 1994 and 2002 was not sufficiently strong to
produce any sizable reduction in poverty, and the impact of
the little growth there was, was dampened by an increase in inequality. Show Less -

Turkey experienced severe losses of life
and infrastructure in 1999 caused by the August earthquake.
The earthquake was followed by a period of economic and
financi... Show More +al crisis, culminating in a major currency
devaluation in February 2001. What has been the social
impact of these crises? In order to answer that question,
the World Bank and the Government of Japan co-financed a
household survey during the summer of 2001, which consisted
of surveying 4200 households on their consumption and
income, and interviewing 120 respondents in depth for case
studies. This study seeks to answer three main questions:
how many are poor in Turkey in 2001; who are the poor and
why are they poor?; and how do the poor cope with risk and
poverty?. The major effect of the crises has been an
increase in poverty in urban areas of Turkey from 1994 to
2001. Extreme poverty in all of Turkey has not changed, and
remains at low levels, but inequality is also unchanged at
quite high levels. A relatively large share (nearly
one-fifth) of the urban population has consumption below a
food standard, and qualitative evidence indicates that
poverty has worsened in rural areas as well. The report
concludes with the following policy recommendations:1)
Macroeconomic management to resume broad-based growth, which
should reverse the poverty trend since the vast majority of
the newly poor are not extremely poor 2) Counter negative
coping strategies of the poor by providing conditional cash
transfers 3) Expand job opportunities for the newly poor
through micro-projects and community development 4) Improve
targeting and coverage of the extreme poor and outreach to
them through institutional strengthening 5) Institute
regular poverty monitoring through household surveys and the
development of a poverty map. Show Less -

Turkey experienced severe losses of life
and infrastructure in 1999 caused by the August earthquake.
The earthquake was followed by a period of economic and
financi... Show More +al crisis, culminating in a major currency
devaluation in February 2001. What has been the social
impact of these crises? In order to answer that question,
the World Bank and the Government of Japan co-financed a
household survey during the summer of 2001, which consisted
of surveying 4200 households on their consumption and
income, and interviewing 120 respondents in depth for case
studies. This study seeks to answer three main questions:
how many are poor in Turkey in 2001; who are the poor and
why are they poor?; and how do the poor cope with risk and
poverty?. The major effect of the crises has been an
increase in poverty in urban areas of Turkey from 1994 to
2001. Extreme poverty in all of Turkey has not changed, and
remains at low levels, but inequality is also unchanged at
quite high levels. A relatively large share (nearly
one-fifth) of the urban population has consumption below a
food standard, and qualitative evidence indicates that
poverty has worsened in rural areas as well. The report
concludes with the following policy recommendations:1)
Macroeconomic management to resume broad-based growth, which
should reverse the poverty trend since the vast majority of
the newly poor are not extremely poor 2) Counter negative
coping strategies of the poor by providing conditional cash
transfers 3) Expand job opportunities for the newly poor
through micro-projects and community development 4) Improve
targeting and coverage of the extreme poor and outreach to
them through institutional strengthening 5) Institute
regular poverty monitoring through household surveys and the
development of a poverty map. Show Less -